Does Arsene believe it's our year? January will answer that.

[Trevheff]

A few mediocre performances of late granted, but cast your minds back to the mood in July/August and the tripe the press were writing about us & we'd all have taken top spot in the League approaching Christmas and safe passage to the knock out stages of the CL. So where from here? The title? Or simply qualification for the CL and then use this season as a stepping stone to greater things?

For me the League table doesnt lie, no not that we're top, the goals against column. 8 conceded by Utd, 9 each by the Chavs and Scousers and 14 by us. That's actually a bigger difference than it may appear at first given that we've only played 16 games. We all know that on our day we'll destroy teams with our attacking ability. We also know that we'll have spells where we're not quite on our 'A' game and we'll have to rely on our ability to keep the opposition out to pick up vital points. If I'm being honest I don't think we're up their with Utd or Chelsea yet in that department. A great quote from Martin Johnson; "Sometimes to win the game you just have to stay in the game". We've certainly improved in this area compared to the past 2 seasons, but for me, as the goals against column shows, probably not enough to be crowned Champions.

We all know that Kolo is off to the ANC. We've all been reminded recently that Swiss Tony is not reliable. We all know we have the option to bring Djourou back - but we also know he's far from proven. I think we've all seen that Almunia has removed the howling errors than haunted his early days (touch wood!!) but that he's not World class. Plus also for me, although I think both Kolo and Gallas have been outstanding so far this season, I'm still not convinced that their pairing gives us enough defensive strength in the air.

For me if Arsene believes we're good enough to win the title this season, then he'll strengthen in these areas in January. We're told he has lots of funds available, and if he believes the title is achievable it would be criminal not to address these areas of weakness that could potentially undermine our challenge.

Or, if he thinks maybe it's a year too soon for some of the squad, I think he'll stick with what he's got, give them a further 6 months to prove themselves and then take the necessary steps to strengthen in the summer on the evidence of that 6 months.

Either way, whatever Arsene decides we know it will be the right thing for the club. But I think his actions, or lack of, in January will give away exactly how highly he rates our title credentials.

Thoughts?

[Red Gunner]

I agree if he doesn’t add anyone than he is quite confident this squad is good enough to win the title. It looks like Diarra wants to leave us but I am sure we have enough central-midfielders therefore won’t be buying any. Maybe Arsene Wenger wasn’t sure about challenging for the title this season, therefore didn’t buy anyone like Anelka because he thought it might hamper some players’ confidence. Now, after the win against Chelsea, it looks like we will be challenging threfore Wenger might decide a player or two can make that difference to our title-charge.

I also agree with your last point: Arsene knows